Parking

In Seattle, there are many places where you can’t quite figure out if you can legally park there or not. One instance of such a quandary is parking within 30 feet of a stop sign where the stop sign is jutted out into the street.

You cannot park within 30 feet of stop signs because if you do you will get a ticket but also because it blocks the view of other drivers who was to see if there is traffic coming in your direction or not. Parking close to a stop sign can block people’s view of traffic, causing a car accident.

Is a jutted out stop sign considered a normal stop sign for the purposes of determining if you can park within 30 feet or not? It seems that the jutted out stop signs purpose is to allow more parking, while at the same time creating no vision problems for drivers.

There is no clear answer from what I have found. However, both the Seattle Municipal Code and the Revised Code of Washington possibly leave the door open for this unique situation where they say “any stop sign located at the side of a roadway”. The curved out stop sign may represent an exception from this law as it could be argued that the stop sign is not located on the side of the roadway at this point, as the stop sign is jutted out into the street.

Here is what the law says:

11.72.370 – Stop sign approach.

No person shall stand or park a vehicle within thirty (30) feet upon approaching any stop sign located at the side of a roadway. (RCW 46.61.570(1)(b)(iv))

RCW 46.61.570 (1)(b) (iv) Within thirty feet upon the approach to any flashing signal, stop sign, yield sign, or traffic control signal located at the side of a roadway;

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